Managing Director Shane Stephan said this is recognition of New Hope’s ongoing commitment to the environment and the long term sustainability of its operations across regional Queensland.

“I congratulate our environmental and operational teams on site for their dedication and continued demonstration of the high standards they set in the progressive rehabilitation of mined land at our Acland operations.

“I’m proud to say that this is the largest single area of certified rehabilitation for an open cut coal mine in the State.

“To put the size of the area in context for those who haven’t seen our operation at New Acland, this certification covers an area of around 300 Suncorp Stadiums.

“And the majority of it already has cattle grazing on it – right up against mining operations. New Acland mine’s progressive rehabilitation methods go above and beyond what the environmental regulator requires which is some of the highest environmental standards in the world.

“Once the pasture on our rehabilitated mined land is well established it is fenced off and handed to our pastoral operations Acland Pastoral Company (APC).

“This rehabilitated land has been a saviour for our pastoral operations which had been experiencing drought conditions.

“Apart from being the right thing to do as custodians of the land – it also makes good business sense to rehabilitate to this high standard and have economically viable productive land as soon as possible behind mining operations.

“This is a clear and practical demonstration of the successful co-existence of mining and agriculture.

“We are committed to sustainable environmental practices, including this world-class rehabilitation, which ensures our land is returned to environmentally and economically sustainable land use as mining completes.”